She isn't ugly. Yet she's not aware of wearing not one but four pearl necklaces? That is naive, or maximum trolling. I'm not sure. Sweety, it's not the catcalling that's your problem, but you seem rather sheltered in your life. Come....let Fark help you get over that. OH don't worry, there's plenty of farkettes here too to keep us in our place.

Disgruntled Goat:I SO wish one of these companies, when targeted by this sort of "catcalls are violence against women" crap, would just say, in response, "if you find it offensive, don't buy it," and keep going about their business.

aerojockey:Disgruntled Goat: I SO wish one of these companies, when targeted by this sort of "catcalls are violence against women" crap, would just say, in response, "if you find it offensive, don't buy it," and keep going about their business.

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And you know what? I have never bought Chick-fil-A. Not once. Never will, either.

It's not violence, although some catcalls can be considered a verbal sexual assault. Most of the ones I've experienced have been mild "hey baby" type of catcalls that I've just ignored. There have been one or two that were pretty over the top, not because they were overly explicit but because the catcallers seemed to really be looking to pick me out of the crowd specifically to call out to. It was more irritating than anything else, although I did once alter my walking path slightly because I just didn't feel like putting up with it. I know I could have contacted their bosses and gotten them in trouble, but it wasn't that bad and it was more just that I didn't feel like being objectified that specific day. Any other day? Not really a problem. However there are those who have gotten some fairly explicit catcalling to the point where it'd end up with a possible arrest and a lawsuit if it'd happened anywhere else. Catcalling isn't all wolf whistles and PG-13 rated comments, so I can see where some of the people who have had direct experience with those sort of catcalls would get offended by this.

That said, I don't think that this was particularly offensive. Nah. It's a little stupid, but it's nowhere near the type of advertisement that we really need to be worried about. When we manage to stop companies from using Jon Benet Ramsay-esque models for their adverts, then we should tackle stuff like this.

My only concession will be that considering that Burt's Bees' original customer base used to be predominantly the hippie/earth mother/feminist type of customer, it's a little foolish to not expect one of them to wharrgarbl over a relatively innocuous phrase.

Must be an urban thing. I work with a buncha in-touch-with-your-feelings hipster men and their long suffering women. (who am I kidding? and hipster women). Sadly, if the men ever realized how ironic cat calling would be, the hipster women would prob screw their brains out. Then there would be mewling hipster cubs all under foot. sheesh

Depending on the situation catcalling can be harrassment and it can be scary. A guy walking by who says "hey beautiful, looking good!" and keeps on walking is nice and most women don't mind that. Five scuzzy derelicts following you for half a block whooting "hey shawtayy!" and telling you explicitly what sex acts they want from you is terrifying and those situations can sometimes escalate to violence.

Because of the latter, I can see why extremists would want to discourage all catcalling. It's unsolicited sexual attention which, in the hands of idiots can be excessive and scary. However, I think it's pretty obvious that Burt's was referring to the former and given that the ad doesn't say "dudes, go out and cat call women" but instead "Chicks, if you want to be catcalled, use our product", I don't understand the outrage.

"let the catcalling commence" is tone-deaf culturally. Might've flown in the Mad Men era but not now.

Personally I've always felt that catcalling and wolf-whistling are disrespectful. Do they rise to the level of violence? I suppose it depends on the circumstances. It certainly is invasive when it makes the other person feel harassed and uncomfortable.